February 28, 2008

Once an area of darkness (gluttony) has been brought to the light of God’s Word and repented of, don’t look back. This is the 180 degree turn. When sin has been dealt with, know that the blood of Jesus Christ covers it and the Lord refuses to remember it. This is profound … that He, our Lord, refuses to remember it. Don’t try to bring up the past for it has been covered by by the Lord and He has buried it in the deep seas and sands. The are forgotten and we must move forward!! Instead focus on the Word:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)

I was for freedom that Christ set us free therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery (Gal. 5:1)

If we say we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk int he light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:6-7)

There are so many more, my sisters, but not enough room nor time to write them all.

We must choose to let God’s peace guard our hearts and minds daily through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to prevent further struggle. If our hearts are not right, then we can not ask for true repentance of our sin of gluttony and it won’t be in faith, but in flesh that we ask.

February 20, 2008

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

Revelation 3:20 (NASB)

Last nite I started a book by Leslie Sansone, the exercise guru who does Walking Away the Pounds. She also professes to be a Christian, so I was very interested in seeing what she has to say about diet, exercise and healthy living and how it corresponds to our current study. In the first chapter, she mentions how we need to be grateful for our food. That is how man started saying grace before a meal – to acknowledge where the food came from (God), why its so good (God), and to show gratitude and appreciation for the abundance of food we have (from God). She goes on to say that Americans are the most overfed and under-appreciative when it comes to food. Well, me and fat butt can attest to that. I wolf down food, sometimes not even tasting it! Pinched for time, I’ll be quick to find a drive through and “pick up” something to eat. I hate to think what I just picked up-perhaps an extra inch on my hips, a few extra points on my cholesterol score or maybe just another dimple on my thigh! And because I’m driving, its certainly not the time to be focusing on God and what he just provided me with, so in essence, I just totally cut him out of my little feast!

Over the past few weeks of practicing moderation, I have experienced greater enjoyment of my food when I first open the door to Him. He comes in and we dine together! Would we dare to take a meal just for ourselves, sit down at the table by ourselves and eat in front of our family – never acknowledging or speaking to them? Now, I realize there are extenuating situations where that might happen (you are late and they already ate), but let’s say that they haven’t eaten. They have waited for you to get home so you can eat and chat – share each other’s day. But you blindly enter the kitchen, grab yourself some food, sit down at the table – never talking to any of them – and scarf down the chow. No fellowship; no communion; no thanking the one who prepared/provided the food; no manners!

In my mind, I think about this – how I routinely ignore Christ at feeding time and never ask Him to dine with me, to be a part of this process. We know about the importance of eating together as a family at the table, without TV, computers, newspapers, or distractions – and that is so important – because we need to fellowship with our loved ones. As the #1 loved one in my life, Jesus also needs to be seated at the table with me.

I pray that I will hear His knock on the door, that I stop to open the door, invite Him in, chat Him up a bit and seat Him right next to me at the table so we can dine together.

February 19, 2008

The ultimate love that will never pass away, the love that is “better than wine”, “sweeter than honey”, is the love of our heavenly Bridegroom. Growing in intimacy with Him satisfies our soul hunger and helps us to be women of moderation toward the good gifts God gives – including food.

February 5, 2008

Happy Monday, my sisters. As you know, Cinny, Retta, NurseT, and I went to Atlanta for some fun, fellowship, food, and frolicking. While we had a good time, did not deprive ourselves of treats (food, shopping, laughter, tears, coffee, chocolate), I feel that we were truly successful in making moderate (not austere, but moderate) choices. Cinny and I were reflecting on past weekend trips and our tendencies to over-indulge. In comparison to those trips, we have come a long long way.

I hope all of you are enjoying success in this slow but steady process. Let’s forget all our past mistakes, failures, weaknesses and celebrate our journey together toward our common goal, which is not the weight loss, but the abundant life He wants for us.

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
–Philipians 3:13-14

January 15, 2008

I just love checking the site and seeing new posts and comments! What a great way to share our lives during the week (and avoid the fwd, fwd, fwd of email!).

I am happy to report that last nite, hubby and Davey and I walked 1 mile. I told you all that I ordered DVDs from Amazon by Leslie Sansone (recommended by my SCF mentor). Well, I got an email that my package was to be delivered on Monday, so I was anxious to try the Walking Away the Pounds (walk at home fitness) last nite. Only to my dismay, the envelope had not sealed properly and I received an empty envelope! The only thing in it was my Amazon invoice! Then I remembered Manda saying something about exercise on cable TV. So I checked out the Comcast site and sure enough, there is ExerciseTV on Comcast (if you have ondemand). Well, that wasn’t all – Leslie Sansone has a couple videos on ExerciseTV! So, we walked a 20 minute mile with Leslie last nite. David and I both enjoyed it alot. She has four basic moves that you do while walking (you only need about 4ft of space) and you do get a good workout (upper and lower) without being wasted. I had so much energy last nite, that Cinny and I went to Bellevue at 7pm! I never leave Fairview once I get there at nite – that was major. I got a haircut, so maybe I’ll have lost like 6 ounces or something!

While in B’vue, Cinny and I ran into an old friend at Walgreens. God is doing marvelous things in her life and we invited her to join us on Sunday nite. I’m sending her directions and hope she comes!!! Her name is Nickii and she is alot of fun and most of all, an inspiring woman of faith.

Food wise the day was half day and we did just fine. I really don’t focus on the food, because God is busy with me with this study, my marriage, friends, family, etc. Its amazing! I ditto everything said in LeLe’s and Cinny’s earlier posts!

Hiya!! Well, my day started off terrrrific!! I met Retta24him & NurseTee at Retta’s house to go walk. Yes it was hard, very hard to get my but outta bed on such a cold, brrrr morning, but I did it as I had told them I would.

I pulled up to the house and the lights were on. (good sign) There was Retta sitting on the puter. I just got my coat off and there came Tee. We all three wrapped up went outside and we were off.

I led since I had many days of pacing hubby when he was in training for the AT. This morning I heard the same little grumbling in the back of me “How far are we gonna walk?” “We aren’t walking up THAT hill are we?” (you know who you are) , but that got quiet and turned to laughter once we warmed up.

I’m proud to say we walked one mile in the seventh hour of the morn!! Then later we walked another 1/4 mile to Calculator’s parents house – JoJo went w/us. SO 1.25 miles for us!! WooHoo! See … it wasn’t that bad. Now if we can get outta bed in the morning and do it again will be the big test. TeeHee!

Oh yeah — we also did our book study this morning. E joined us, too. Have ya’ll read John chapter one yet? My, My how God talked to us in that one ….. and the memory verse for today. Blew me away for sure.

Okay sisters……. I pray God be with you the rest of the week to see you through. Call me if you have any struggles and I’ll do the same.

BTW – Friday be at my house for a Beauty Shop party and to meet our out of town guest. Who needs color? Call me. See ya.

SCF stands for Setting Captives Free. It is mentioned in the beginning of our Woman of Moderation study guide. I have learned that the author of our book had gained 25 lbs after the death of her husband and she found the SCF online program and successfully lost weight and gained a closer walk with Christ! SCF is a website that not only deals with food issues, there are also other addictions that their studies address. The one dealing with food is called “The Lord’s Table”. The link to this program is on our webpage under “blogroll”. You join (free) and each day do an online lesson (I have it for lunch most days). You are appointed a mentor from somewhere in the U.S. (mine is a stay at home mom of two in Ohio) – and that mentor is great about giving ideas and support. The lessons are fantastic and follow along closely with our book. FYI, Dee Brestin authored our book after graduating from the SCF program.

Today’s lesson (#8) had a great quote that I wanted to post here:

Dear friend, beware of any teaching, program, or method of finding freedom from sinful eating habits that does not have Jesus Christ at the center, for there is no other way to solve the sin problem than Jesus. There is no other way to be reconciled to God, to be changed from being His enemy to being His friend, and to cease from going astray, than through Jesus.

January 14, 2008

Yesterday I did not have the chance to do my Day 7 SCF study, and just got to it today. If you haven’t done Day 7, I don’t want to spoil it for you, but the beginning of the lesson is right on point with things we talked about last nite at our study. Here is an excerpt that I wanted to share – since it reaffirms our realization that other issues are begging to be addressed inside of us!

One student wrote, “As God has given me victory over overeating and my relationship with Christ became more intimate, other sin issues began to come to the surface. For those of us who have been in bondage to overeating for a very long time and are now becoming free, dealing with other sin issues without turning to food may be quite overwhelming. It is helpful to know this may happen, in order to be prepared when it occurs.”

As for how to be prepared – tune in to Day 7’s lesson! AND seek the Lord.

January 11, 2008

Yep, that’s it. That is the title of our lesson today. And is that not the answer of our life? He does save us, but sometimes its hard to just LET him. Save us from annoyances, obstructions, fright, hunger and everything we do every day. He has done this since the beginning and will do it to the end. If we would just LET Him.

I have kept this in the front of my mind all day today as I’m fasting. No, it ain’t that easy, but I have found strength through talking to Papa about it. And guess what … well my, my, my…….it worked!! It really worked!! Why am I surprised? Oh me of little faith?

My God is an awesome God, yet all the years I have saddened Him by not LETTING Him take care of my gluttony. Now I am, and it brings tears to my eyes just knowing He is there to help me through this struggle just like all the others I have had in my life if I will just LET Him.

I pray for you all as I know you too are and have struggled through this. I ask our Father to see you through the unhealthy habits of the past. Most of all I pray that you will LET Him walk you through this.

I love you all,

Cinny

PS: By the way, Brian is OK and at home with a diagnosis of a gallbladder stone.

January 9, 2008

I heard from my mentor this evening. Gosh I was so excited I almost fell out of my chair. Ain’t God great!! He sends us who we need at the time we need them most. It’s evening and I’m very tempted to eat, but I’ve been praying and reading my lesson over and over.